


when you love someone

by alphatattoo



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 04:45:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphatattoo/pseuds/alphatattoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha and James are on a mission together, when she asks him something he wasn't expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when you love someone

**Author's Note:**

> just something random I wrote before I went to bed because these two keep me up at night <3

_When you find somebody you love, all the way through, and she loves you—even with your weaknesses, your flaws, everything starts to click into place. And if you can talk to her, and she listens, if she makes you laugh, and makes you think, makes you want, makes you see who you really are, and who you are is better, just better with her, you’d be crazy not to want to spend the rest of your life with her.” - Nora Roberts_

"We should get married."

It’s not something Natasha Romanov thinks she’s ever going to say to the man crouched down beside her in a forest in god fucking knows where, and then again, she’s mostly joking because they’ve been on this mission for twenty seven hours and she could really do with a shower of some sorts. How the thought even crossed her mind is beyond her. _God_. She needed a drink. It had been hours since the other had spoken, but there was always an unspoken link between them.

Knowing what he was thinking was a gift and a curse.

James’ eyebrow raises slightly at the statement, his reaction completely shielded from her. He knew she would be able to read him. A light and slightly breathless laugh leaves him before he presses a featherlight kiss to her jaw. No words are needed. He know’s she’s joking, because if there’s anything Natasha wouldn’t do it would be getting married. Not again, not after what she had been through. Someone as fierce as her - she’d break out of her cage.

Though the more she thinks about it, the more the actual concept of being married to James crosses her mind in a thousand ways. Her head turns away from him, eyes focused through the glass of her binoculars, shrubbery in her vision. Shades of green and tones of brown are all she can see, and with a sharp nip of her teeth into her lip, she turns back to face him again, “I’m half serious, you know,” she states cooly in a true Black Widow fashion.

"Natalia…" he starts to say, going against all protocol and letting his bionic arm wrap around her waist. It’s not as comforting as the flesh and bone one - but it’s _James_ \- and that’s just as comforting to know that these last years haven’t been made him and that’s she’s remembered how much she loved him after all those years. James stops short. His sentence unanswered, fractured and lingering in the humid air.

Sweat sticks to them everywhere, and she really doesn’t wanting to be wearing this god damn leather catsuit. She would much rather have James be taking it off in one of the SHIELD arranged hotels they were going to get back to. See? This was exactly what tangents she didn’t need to be on. Composing herself completely she leans into his embrace, <I love you,> Her Russian is perfectly accented, and James looks at her again, cold steel fingers rubbing along her hip bone.

"Marriage isn’t your thing, you know," he replies, English this time. Hearing her speak in Russian did unspeakable things to him. Not really suitable at this moment in time. We should get married. It’s still in his head. He wants it - more than anything, but he knows that there’s something behind her call, something she’s not going to tell him because when Natasha Romanov comes out with a marriage proposal, you need to figure out what’s going on. “Besides, I thought the proposing was up to me.”

Her stern gaze softens slightly, but she still watches him intently, leaning into his embrace, “You didn’t answer the question, James,” she mutters.

James freezes for a moment in time. It felt like forever, but it was more than likely a fraction of a second. “Why?” he asks firstly. Not waiting for a reply just yet, he continues, “Why now? You’ve never mentioned this before, Nat, anyone else would think that you’re joking.” It’s true.

And he knows she knows it.

Fiddling with the zipper on his outfit, her other soft yet worn out hand brushes along his stubbled jaw, “Figured we have to live our lives at some point.” It’s a weak explanation. ”

"I don’t want to lose you," he murmurs, "Not now, not ever…" he admired the softness of her skin when he lets his lips brush against the flesh near her ear, "Marriage is not you. You can’t be defined by that. You need more than that."

Setting her binoculars down, she turns all of her attention to him. “I don’t want to get married to you for the aesthetics, for anything like that-” she’s almost angry, because he doesn’t understand the angle she’s arguing. “For a long time I thought I could never commit myself to anything that wasn’t work. And then you came along again.”

Her words sink in, and he nods. Twice. His lips find hers out, move against them momentarily. Understanding her is a life long process. Pulling away with hesitation, “And you’re bringing this up on a mission?” He hasn’t answered her yet.

“Good time as any.”

“Not for some things.”

The look they share match. Smirks hidden within their features, lips turned up with knowing the other.

She knew him, and he knew her.

They were everything together and nothing without the other.

But marriage? It wasn’t as straightforward as a white gown and a ring. He knew she didn’t want that. None of it. She wanted the promise. She wanted the unspoken link between them to be strengthened on another level. If that were even possible.

Natasha knows she’s not going to her an answer out of him, "Forget I said anything." Stung, she moves to wriggle out of his embrace but James won't let their conversation end here. No. He loves her with every inch of his body and he wraps her around her and kisses her with everything he has. Every memory, every moment of pain and despair is thrown into this, raw emotion driving him.

Breathless, he pulls away.

Natasha blinks a few times. Getting back to where her mind originally was.

"Is that a yes?"

James tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smiling, "I'm a traditional man, Miss Romanova," he scolded teasingly. "Are you sure-"

She cuts him off.

"Sure as I've been with for anything in my life." She means it. Fuck, now that the idea is on the table, nothing had ever been more clear

Before she can answer he kisses her again, not caring about this mission or the fact that Fury would be on their case when they got back, but he want her. He wants her every way he can.

"James..." she breathed against his lips, fingers scratching against his scalp, twisting in his hair. It drives him crazy when she does that.

Hands on either side of her face, he draws her closer, slowly pushing her back down against the grass, ignoring the edges of twigs and twisted branches digging into them. Her legs wrap around his waist without any hesitation, a small laugh leaving her as she grinds her hips up, wanting to get something out of it.

"Yes."

James purrs into her ear with no context, grinding back against her, but not wanting to take it too far. Save that for a more appropriate location. He wonders if she'll pick up what he just said

With an annoyed look of impatience, Natasha swats his arm, "Yes, what?"

He raised an eyebrow in response, trailing his lips over her jaw and to the junction of her shoulder. He had never been more sure about anything. She was dangerous and complicated, but she knew him like no one else. And she was his.

And then it clicked to her, obvious as a grin snuck it's way onto her face, "I knew you'd come to your senses eventually," she said, pleased with herself. Her hips moved against his again, harder this time.

He rolled them over, looking up at her. Just admiring her like this reaffirmed that he would be crazy not to marry her. He was better with her.

 


End file.
